(Source: NBC News)
(Denver, Colorado) -- "Evil, unchecked, is the prelude to genocide."
That is the first line of my most recent novel,
The Auschwitz Escape. But while the book was fiction, I'm afraid that line is proving as relevant as today's headlines.
We are watching genocidal conditions emerging in the epicenter.
This is as dark as any time I have ever seen in the modern Middle East. We are watching a
jihadist rampage across the region. This isn’t just war. We are watching the jihadists seeking to annihilate all who stand in their way as they try to establish and Islamic State or caliphate.
This evil must be checked, now.
ISIS -- the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria -- and Hamas and the other jihadist forces in the region absolutely must be stopped. Civilized nations much band together and crush these wicked forces before it is too late.
The free world dithered as Adolf Hitler came to power. Isolationists in America told us we should do nothing. So we waited. We hesitated. We argued amongst ourselves. We eventually fought. We eventually banded together with other civilized nations to check the evil. But only after we were suffered a devastating surprise attack. We waited far too long to check the evil that was rising in the 1930s and 40s, and millions upon millions of innocents died as a result.
Now consider what is happening today:
I'm hearing from Christian pastor friends in Iraq that ISIS forces have conquered all or most of the Christian towns in the north of Iraq and are now only 20 to 40 kilometers from Erbil, the Kurdish capital in the north (where I have been four times in recent years to encourage and support the Christians).
More than 170,000 have been murdered in Syria, millions of Syrians have fled their homes to escape the violence, millions more have fled to neighboring countries as refugees as ISIS and other jihadist groups seek to conquer Damascus and seize control of the entire country.
Israel is under attack by 3,000+ rockets from jihadist terror groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others. After several days of quiet during a ceasefire, Hamas has re-launched the war. Just since midnight, they have fired more than 45 rockets at Israeli civilian population centers.
Meanwhile, in the shadows, Iran marches forward with its nuclear program while threatening to wipe Israel “off the map.”
Imagine if ISIS and Hamas had nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
Up until now, there has been precious little international effort to stop the radicals -- only blistering condemnations of Israel for trying to defend herself from the jihadist rampage.But on Thursday, seeing genocidal conditions rapidly emerging, the President authorized U.S. airstrikes against ISIS forces in northern Iraq. On Friday, a few, limited airstrikes began.
"President Obama, saying that he was acting to avert a threatened genocide, announced that he had authorized airstrikes against Sunni militants who have advanced quickly across northern Iraq, driving tens of thousands of people out of their towns and villages,"
reports the Los Angeles Times. "In addition to the threat of airstrikes, Obama said U.S. cargo planes had dropped supplies to the displaced Iraqis in the area of Mt. Sinjar, who faced the risk of imminent starvation. 'Today, America is coming to help,' Obama said in brief remarks from the White House. Obama repeated his vow that no American combat troops would be sent back to Iraq, saying that 'as commander in chief, I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq.'"
The Washington Post reported on Friday morning that "U.S. military jets carried out two airstrikes Friday on Islamist militants outside the Kurdish regional capital of Irbil, hours after President Obama authorized attacks against the Sunni extremists advancing on the northern Iraq city. The F-18 combat aircraft targeted artillery being used by militants of the Islamic State extremist group against Kurdish forces defending Irbil, the Pentagon said. It said the artillery was fired at Kurdish forces 'near U.S. personnel.' The planes dropped 500-pound laser-guided bombs at about 6:45 a.m. EDT, said Rear Adm. John F. Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary. Obama authorized the strikes following the launch of a powerful offensive by Islamic State militants in northern Iraq. He also sent U.S. military aircraft to drop food and water to besieged Iraqi civilians in the region. The U.S. airstrikes hit Islamic State positions in Makhmour, about 35 miles southwest of Irbil, said Mahmood Haji, an official at the Kurdish Interior Ministry. 'This is a victory for all the Iraqi people, for the pesh merga, and for America,” he said. “We need these airstrikes to destroy their bases and vehicles so the pesh merga can move forward.' The pesh merga is the Kurdish security force."
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